Human trafficking task force. The world�s largest evangelical organization announced on Monday that it has created a task force on human trafficking. World Evangelical Alliance, which represents 420 million evangelical Christians worldwide, named Commissioner Christine MacMillan, who was the group�s spokesperson on human trafficking, as head of the new task force to prevent and combat human trafficking. Each year, an estimated 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked across international borders, according to the U.S. Department of State. Of these people, 70 percent of them are female and 50 percent are children. Most of these victims are forced into the sex trade.
I'll give you a long life,
give you a long drink of salvation! (The Message)
"Believers will never be exempt from troubles and embarrassments. God does not promise them a life of ease and luxury, but deliverance from their tribulations."
"He puts much honour upon them in the world, and glorifies himself in them conspicuously, but it is not till the completion of their course that he affords them ground of triumph."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
"Faith Alone"
Galatians 2:15-16
15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (ESV)
The "five solas of Reformation theology are as follows: sola fide, sola gratia, solus Christus, sola Scriptura, and soli Deo gloria. Today, we will look at sola fide, which means "faith alone."
"Contrary to what many Protestants think, Roman Catholicism affirms that we are justified or accounted as right before the Lord by faith in Christ and that no one is saved apart from Him. However, Roman Catholic theologians deny that faith is sufficient for justification." They add sacraments (baptism, confession, penance, etc) as "works" to faith. They argue that works partner with grace to make us righteous.
However, since the Bible describes all of our works as "filthy rags," (Isaiah 64:6), we insist that "our works can in no way be the ground of our acceptance before God." Only Christ's merit can set us right, and we can only access this by trusting in Christ alone. If God waited for us to become righteous before justifying us, we would never become justified. He counts us righteous through faith alone, while we are still sinners.
"Our Sins Hurled Away"
Romans 6:14
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (ESV)
Micah 7:19 says, You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea. (ESV)
God doesn't just drop our sins over the side of the boat. He hurls them out into the depths of sea "as something to be rid of and forgotten."
"God is eager to cast away our sins. Because the sacrifice of His Son is of such infinite value, He delights to apply it to sinful men and women." He is a joyous forgiver. His justice has been satisfied and the cup of his wrath has been drunk to the dregs, so he is eager to extend his forgiveness.
It's a beautiful picture, that of God hurling our sins overboard. "And then," says Corrie Ten Boom, "God put up a sign saying, 'No fishing allowed.'" We do tend to drag up our old sins; we tend to live under a sense of guilt over sins long forgiven.
Oh, if we could only grasp the full significance of this forgiveness! If we could only live in the eternal truth that our sins are at the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean! Never to return to us.
I praise you, Lord, that I don't have to add works to my faith in order to be considered righteous. I thank you that it is through grace alone, by faith alone that we are saved. May we never forget this, because we do frequently attempt to earn your favor by doing good works. Perhaps we aren't trying to earn our salvation, but I still run across people, even at church, who just don't get it. We can't even earn your favor through the works that we do. Works are nothing more than, well, proof. Proof that we are truly following you. But help us to understand that there is nothing that we can do to gain more favor in your sight. Nor is there anything we can do to lose favor.
Grace and peace, friends.